A Day in the Old City and Mt. of Olives
Today was fantastic. We feel so blessed! This morning we went to Christ Church right outside Jaffa Gate with our new friend John I mentioned previously. It’s a beautiful building around 200 years old, the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East if I heard correctly. The service was very good and very encouraging. After church we set off with John to explore some of the Old City and surrounding areas. John has been such a blessing and acted almost as a personal tour guide with his historical and spiritual insight. We went to such places as the Western Wall, Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock, Garden of Gethsemane, St. Mary’s tomb, Mt. of Olives, and more I’m probably forgetting about at the moment. We got to see so many amazing things, take so many pictures, eat, talk, fellowship. And we walked A LOT. So, after the extensive sight-seeing and picture-taking, we ventured even more up and into the Mt. of Olives (where you get an excellent view of the Old-City), into the Arab region. Since we were already “in the area” we decided to search for the Jerusalem House of Prayer for all Nations, which we knew was located somewhere in the area, although we had no idea of the exact location. This is where it starts to get good my friends. We walk around for a bit and keep asking for directions, only to be misled multiple times. Incredibly, we happened to “stumble upon” an American and asked him if he knew where it was. He made a phone call, found out how to get there, and we were off with our new friend Francis (who is currently volunteering at a Christian Hostel here in the Old City for a while. A great Christian man who we were pleased to meet considering the circumstances). We walked for a while, turned around, asked for directions again, then finally found it! Now, it only gets better from here. When we reach the gate it is locked, but someone sees us and lets us in (you’re supposed to call ahead of time). We enter then head up to the prayer room to, well, pray. The prayer room is awesome. It’s an enclosed room that basically “sits” on top of the roof. It’s almost entirely glass doors that go out onto the roof, where you can get an incredible view in every direction. Anyway, every two hours they pray for a specific part of the world, covering all twelve regions in 24 hours. So we’re there, and we end up getting asked who we are and what we’re doing there. We meet a few people, explain our stories, then get to talking. By this time our friend Francis had left so it was just Devon, John, and myself. Two women we were talking with offered to pray for us, and from there it all broke loose. They prophesied, encouraged, cried out, spoke wisdom and safety… everything they said was right and meaningful. One of the women knew I needed to start speaking in tongues, which is something I have been praying for for some time. Without this knowledge, she begins to pray for me and challenged me to do so. I did! She prayed for Devon and knew he was a fearless man with a sword in his hand, a David. Little did she know, David is one of Devon’s biggest heroes! She continued to pray some very powerful things over both of us, and it was just what we needed. After prayer we stayed for some food and fellowship, made some more new friends (including a guy named Peter from Uganda, where we’re going!) and got contact information. We finally said our goodbyes and grabbed a taxi back to the Jaffa Gate. We did not feel like walking back in the cold darkness after such a long day, it’s a long ways. And here we are! Back at the hostel, feeling good after witnessing more of God’s goodness and faithfulness.
I sit here and think of how it all lines up. We had looked into many other hostels, but somehow ended up here, meeting our friend John. John shows us around places we might not have gone and we end up looking for the House of Prayer, which we wanted to visit beforehand. We happen to find a Christian man who finds out where it’s at, and without him, we never would have found it. We find it, and are greatly blessed, never expecting to get prayed for while we we’re there. I am blown away by God’s faithfulness.
Be encouraged, keep us in your prayers, and stay posted on what’s going on. We both feel like today was saturated with divine interventions.
God bless. Pictures coming soon! I promise.
